Newsday’s Greg Logan updates us on the Islanders prospects playing in the World Junior Hockey Championships in Leksand, Sweden.
Neither one is lighting up the scoreboard. (Kyle) Okposo has two assists and (Ryan) O’Marra has one. But Islanders general manager Garth Snow said last night that the club’s scouts at the tournament are pleased with their play. “It’s like an All-Star lineup, and some players are asked to play different roles,” Snow said, noting that O’Marra is on the third line as opposed to playing a top offensive role for his junior team in Saginaw.”
Logan also mentions that D Fred Meyer acquired from Philly, may be ready to join the Isles as soon as tomorrow night.
Hockey’s Future is an awesome hockey website dedicated to watching NHL prospects. Very detailed reports, updated very regularly as well. They’ve just posted an update on the 10 Islanders prospects playing in the AHL and ECHL. Check it out, it’s a good look at how the prospects in Bridgeport are doing.
The New York Islanders have 10 players in the minor leagues in 2006-07. Nine are with the Islanders’ AHL affiliate, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and one player is with the organization’s new ECHL affiliate, the Pensacola Ice Pilots.
The most interesting fact to note regarding these players is that given the early season trade of Ryan Caldwell to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Islanders currently have no defensemen in the minors. None of the goaltenders are of prospect age either.
The Isles’ have officially called up prospect Blake Comeau from the Sound Tigers, taking Hunter’s roster spot and playing on the 4th line. He’ll make his NHL debut vs Montreal tonight. Comeau has 7G 14A and 21P in 23GP for Bridgeport.
Last night in Bridgeport, Comeau scored with 4:10 left in regulation to tie the game and then set up Jeff Tambellini’s overtime goal in the Sound Tigers’ 3-2 win over Binghamton. Islanders head coach Ted Nolan made the trip to Bridgeport and said at today’s morning skate that Comeau was “clearly the best player on the ice.”
As he did with Jeremy Colliton on Tuesday, Nolan said Comeau will start tonight’s game on the fourth line. “Everything after that,” said the coach, “will depend on how Blake performs.”
[Update 1] No between the legs goals here, but I did find 3 short videos of Comeau on YouTube.
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NY Islanders 2006 First Round Draft pick Kyle Okposo is playing at the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers this year. Saturday night he lit the lamp with a Sportscenter worthy between the legs shot. Check out the video here.
Freshman forward Kyle Okposo’s jaw-dropping, highlight reel goal midway through the first period was the difference tonight as the top-ranked University of Minnesota men’s hockey team edged Minnesota State 2-1 in Mankato, Minn.
Okposo is leading the team in goals and has a ten game point scoring streak for the Gophers.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hope you had a great holiday. The boys in blue and orange certainly did, winning all three games of the holiday homestand. The holidays and/or the wins also brought out an improvement in attendance for all three games, including a season high of 15,625 Friday afternoon vs. the Penguins.
Unfortunately, the third win vs. Washington ended on a sour note when Isles’ leading scorer Alexei Yashin was injured in the third period after a knee on knee collision with the Capitals’ Matt Bradley. Yash had an MRI on Monday, and will be out for 2-4 weeks. Yashin has been a quick healer in the past, so hopefully the diagnosis is correct and he won’t miss much more time than that.
Back to the games, last Wednesday night the Islanders came out incredibly strong against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Isles outshot Carolina 20-1 in the first period, with Carolina’s only shot coming with less than 2 minutes in the period on net a harmless dump in that Ricky played into the corner. Shawn Bates scored to give the Isles a 1-0 lead after one. The Isles peppered Hurricanes’ goalie John Grahame with 17 more shots in the 2nd, but could not increase their lead. If this was last year’s team, you could have seen the third period collapse coming. But this is the 2006-07 Isles and Blake scored his team leading 12th goal of the year 59 seconds into the third to give the Isles some breathing room at 2-0. Yash scored a wraparound to make it 3-0, and the Isles won 4-2 as they outshot Carolina 48-15. I can’t find it anywhere, but I think the announced attendance was 13,000+.
Isles/Canes highlights
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Friday afternoon the Islanders played a matinée vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pens’ superstar/Olympic diver/serial whiner Sydney Crosby missed his 2nd straight game with a groin pull. Fans looking forward to seeing Sid the Kid should not fret, as the Islanders and Penguins will face each other four times in the next three weeks thanks to the NHL’s wonderful unbalanced schedule. Richard Park and Rick DiPietro were the first period heroes, helping to kill another 5-on-3 power play against the Islanders. Park broke his stick early in the shift and then proceeded to block two Penguins shots from the point with his body. The Penguins were 0-9 on the powerplay as the Islanders defense, especially shorthanded, is playing very well. Yashin netted the game’s first goal early in the second and then Satan and Hill scored in the third to give the Isles a 3-0 lead. Good to see Satan scoring again - he had a couple of empty netters last week, but it’s been a while since he scored on an actual goalie. The Pens’ other wonder-kid, Evgeni Malkin broke up DP’s shutout with about 8 minutes left to play. Brendan Witt drilled Malkin later in the game with a solid, clean hit that sent Malkin right to the dressing room. Word from the Pens was that Malkin had his bell rung, and his previously injured shoulder was just fine. ‘Atta boy Witter! As mentioned, the Isles had a season high attendance of 15,625 for the 3-1 win.
Isles/Pens highlights
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Finally, the Islanders wrapped up the homestand on Saturday night as Bob Bourne was inducted into the Islanders Hall of Fame (photos). In addition to the pre-game ceremonies, the team sported “BB” patches on their jerseys. Jason Blake continued his scoring assault, notching the game’s first two goals - one in the first, and one in the second. Richard Park scored late in the second giving the Isles a 3-0 lead. Washington’s own wonder-kid, Alexander Ovechkin scored a PP goal early in the third to cut the lead to 3-1, but that’s as close as they would come. Trent Hunter iced the game with a shorthanded goal late in the third for the 4-1 final. Another strong job by the Isles PK as the Capitals were 1/8 with the man advantage. Announced attendance was 13,000+.
The Isles play the Penguins (10-8-4) (again) tonight in Pittsburgh, their first game without Yashin. Eric Boguniecki was called up from Bridgeport to replace Yashin. Boguniecki had 3 goals and 5 assists in 12 games for the Sound Tigers. I think it’s a slightly interesting move considering the future of the Islanders, Jeff Tambellini and Robert Nilsson are leading the Sound Tigers in scoring. It’s apparent that Coach Nolan or someone at Bridgeport feels these two aren’t quite ready to contribute consistently at the NHL level. Personally, I’d like to see their speed out there over Boguniecki’s veteran experience.
